Head Above Water
by GammaLily
Summary: Treading water? Is that what I'm doing? Slowly drowning in the emotions that have taken over my being? Emotions that have created someone that I can't even recognize?
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1 (Prologue)

Bella P.O.V

Treading water? Is that what I'm doing? Slowly drowning in the emotions that have taken over my being? Emotions that have created someone that I can't even recognize?

Things have changed in my life drastically. It goes from one extreme to the next and as time goes on things either get worse or they pause and are kept within a small state of turmoil and they cannot be fixed. As the seasons pass and each day feels like an eternity things slowly start to shift, but not into chaos. Everything starts to unfold into the next big change in my life.

This change all starts with a boy.

Before I begin let me take you to that moment where everything started to slowly fall into place.


	2. Chapter 2

Authors Note: I do not own any of Stephanie Meyers characters. This is simply my story with her characters. My story is an All human story as well as military related. I highly respect the United States Military and am very excited to start this fic. I usually give up after writing a few chapters because I get really bad writers block and I just can't seem to continue but I feel different about this specific fic. I hope you all like It and I highly recommend reviews to help me along the way. I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 2

Bella P.O.V

Living in a small town you usually never have secrets. At least its hard to keep them, hence the small town. I've lived in this town for 18 years, when I was 6 my family and I moved across town to the two bedroom two bath home that we live in now. I've grown up with the same kids and have known the same people my whole life. Sadly ive never even had a reason to want to venture outside of this small place. I live in Forks Washington, where the sun comes out rarely and the rain falls down daily.

My name is Bella Swan I am 17 years old, My birthday is on September 13th 1995, My parents are Charlie and Renee Swan and have been happily married for the last 22 years.

Four months ago


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2 (Where it all began)

Bella P.O.V.

Being 18 and have chosen the life that I'm living sadly makes me an outcast to quite a few people the same age as me. My peers look down on me in displeasure because they cannot understand the reason as to why I am the way I am and the reason as to why I have chosen the life that I have.

It all started with a boy. One of the most handsome boys I had ever laid eyes on. It happened to be one of the rare days in Forks where it was sunny and actually quite nice outside. If you hadn't figured it out yet I live in forks which is a small town in the state of Washington. So small in fact that we pretty much know everyone that lives in town in turn them knowing us too.

"Hey Dad?!" I yell down the stairs.

"Yeah Bells?" He hollers back

"Is it alright if I run to the market really quick? There are a few things I want to pick up before dinner." I quickly reply

"Yeah Sure thing kid."

I quickly grab my lite gray and blue pull over and throw it on over my black tank top, Slipping on my converse I'm out the door in a flash and jumping into my 1950's style Chevy truck.

"Man, I love this truck" I sigh out

About two years ago during my sophomore year in high school my dad surprised me with a beast of a truck and ever since I haven't been able to even imagine getting rid of it. I have slowly been starting to fix her up but she still needs quite a bit of work. I would ask my friend Jacob, he's my best friend that lives on the Indian reservation near our house but lately I've noticed his odd fascination in me and I've decided to take a little time to give us some space so that he doesn't get the wrong impression. He is a great person but I just don't see him in that way.

While entering the parking lot I look over to my right to see one of the most gorgeous men I had ever seen walk towards the automatic doors of the super market. All 6 foot 2 of him and tan skin. By the time I actually got a good look at him I saw him walk through the door and only caught the back of his NWU'S walking through the door.

"I wonder why an active duty man in the Navy is doing all the way over here?" I think aloud

I couldn't help but admit that even only seeing the back of him he was definitely a very good looking man. Taking the thoughts of the cute boy and putting them aside I grab my cross body bag and throw it over my shoulder after hopping out of the truck. Slamming the door I head towards the sliding glass doors.

Once inside I grab ahold of a cart and head in the direction of the deli and the meat. Looking down at my list I know that I might actually be here for a while. I was hoping only to get a few things but I knew that I was going to have to stalk up the fridge and pantry again. Knowing my dad he will say that he will drop by the store but then just eat at the diner every night before he gets home. My dad's the chief of police here in the small town of forks and here lately there have been more missing person articles show up in the newspaper up in Seattle and sadly he has been working late at the station to try and help out as much as he can from here rather than leaving me here at home by myself for possible multiple days at a time. Huffing in annoyance I grab the list and get to work on filling up the cart.

30 minutes later and I'm only half way done with my shopping but I'd hate to admit I'm really just moving slow because I've caught side of the mysterious Navy guy a few times and I'm too afraid to actually go up to him and say hi.

Turning the corner without looking I literally run cart first into the mystery guy and see that he has a jar of alfredo sauce in his hand and when my cart practically runs the poor guy over the jar of pasta sauce goes flying and me being the weirdo that I am I literally dive for the pasta sauce realizing to late that he is diving for it as well. We collide and not only does the jar break it gets all over my shirt and jeans. Sitting there on the floor practically stunned I don't even dare to look up to see his face knowing that mine is about as read as a fire truck at the moment. Flooded with embarrassment I can barely process the words that I'm saying.

"Oh my goodness, I am so sorry I just saw that I almost impaled you with my cart and then the jar went flying and my first instinct was to jump for it and by the time that I realized you were going for it, it was too late and well now I'm going to have to eat my shirt for dinner." I squeak out in one breathe while trying not to sound too crazy. Sadly saying I'd have to eat my shirt I'm sure he thinks I'm crazy by now.

I hear a chuckle up above me and know that it's him. Good lord, I just completely embarrassed myself by acting like a soccer goalie and jumping for the pasta sauce and now he is laughing at me with that adorable laugh. Really, Can you punish me even further?

Looking up to mystery guy I smile timidly and look back down at my hands before I realize he is offering me his hand to help me up. Reaching my hand out I grab his hand and pull myself up and out of the mess on the floor.

"Are you okay?" Mystery guy asks me.

"Am I okay?" I ask in disbelief. "I just practically killed you and flattened you like a pancake with my cart and then I tried to save your sauce and not only did I get it all over the floor but I got it all over myself now looking like an appetizer and you're asking me if I'm okay?

He just smiles and says "Well yeah and I promise that the cart did nothing but nudge the sauce out of my hand, I'm more concerned about you, your hand is bleeding.

Taking note of what just came out of his mouth I look down at my left hand to notice that I'm indeed bleeding and my palm looks like it took part in a slasher movie. Well isn't that great I think to myself.

"Would you mind if I took a look at it?" he asks

"I … well … uuummmm … ok?" I stutter making it sound more like a question.

He takes my hand and looks closely at it before telling me that I have a few small shards of glass in my hand that most likely came from me putting my hand on the floor to level myself when I pushed off the ground to get up.

"Looks like another ER trip" I mutter to myself without realizing he can hear me.

"Well if you want I can just take you out to my truck and fix it up real quick for the time being, I mean you should see a doctor after this anyways to make sure it doesn't get infected but I can clean it up and get that glass out for you if you'd like." He tells me in one breath

"Yeah sure thank you, let me just tell Sue that I'm going to have you look at it and that she might want to clean up the pasta sauce massacre in aisle seven." I quickly reply before walking off and letting Sue the owner of the store and an almost girlfriend to my dad know that I had another fall out with the glass jars on aisle seven.

"Hey Sue " I ask while walking up to register 3.

"Yeah honey?"

"I just wanted to warn you that there is another mess on aisle seven and that the potential candidate of an almost gory pasta sauce death said he could bandage my hand up and that he has a first aid kit in his truck, so if I'm not back in about 30 minutes send out the search parties. Okay?" I teasingly tell her

"Yeah, I know exactly who you almost killed with your cart. Be careful and tell Paul that Sue says thank you"

"Okie Dokie" I tell her while practically speed walking away.

Internally musing I now realize that I know the mystery guy's name. Paul huh? That's kind of a cute name.

Walking back up to Paul I let him know that Sue says thank you.

"Sue says thank you by the way, I think she is happy I don't need another trip to the emergency room, With my record I probably have my own filing cabinet there" I laugh out

He just smiles at me and leads me to his truck that's only a few spots from mine. Pulling out his keys he unlocks his truck and pulls open the back door and reaches behind the seat to reveal a first aid kit in his hand.

"Let's see what I can do and hope that you won't need some stitches" he says

I hold out my arm for him so that he can grab ahold of my wrist to get a closer look to my hand. Slowly he moves my hand from left to right trying to get a look at my palm from different angles to see if he can get a good angle of the glass in my palm. Reaching into the first aid kit he pulls out a thin pair of tweezers with an angled end to it. Reaching forward with the hand holding the tweezers he grabs ahold of one of the piece of glass and slowly starts to pull it out of my hand. Saying It hurt would have been an understatement but knowing he couldn't just rip the shards out of my hand I stayed quiet and let him get what he could.

Once he was done he pulled some gauze and a bandage out and wrapped my palm for me. Not realizing I was just staring at him like I had no intellectual thought process at all I noticed his mouth moving. Shaking my head to lift the hazy fog of a son to love struck me out of my head I leaned forward and gave him a warm hug before literally running back into the super market without even looking back.

Me being myself which sadly happens to mean completely awkward and shy I swiftly checked out and loaded the little groceries I had grabbed and threw them onto the bench seat of my truck with me before pulling out of the parking lot while trying to rid the thoughts of the incredibly handsome man from the grocery store.

Without even really knowing it I was already very fond of this Paul.


End file.
